Soufflé
by Thera Dratara
Summary: The part of him that was in love wanted to reach out, but the part of him that loved told him to stay back.
1. Chocolate

**A/N:** First actual Kaichi fic. There might be some other pairings showing up in the background, but they're not the focus of the fic, so I'm not gonna advert them.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the rights to Cardfight! Vanguard or any of it's associated materials.

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><p>Chocolate<p>

He had noticed it at school. Guys gushing over their lockers, comparing, and sadly enough, competing with eachother over what kind of chocolate they got. It was Valentine's Day. He'd hoped to avoid it, but unfortunately some poor sod had decided she fancied him. Therefore, when he went to pick up his shoes, he found a bag of little heartshaped chocolates waiting for him.

He stared at the bag, wondering if perhaps he could just throw it away. If the sender would show up, he would just pretend like he hadn't received anything, oh dear, she must've put it in the wrong locker. It was a good plan, a fantastic plan. Honestly, it was the smartest thing he had thought of that day. In fact, he was just about to execute it when Miwa showed up.

"Hey, so you got lucky, huh?" said Miwa. He then saw how Kai took it to a bin. "You're not actually thinking of throwing that away, are you?"

"I'm allergic to milk chocolate." Well, not really, he more or less disliked it. He really prefered the spicyness of dark chocolate. Also, observing the dullness of the surface, these chocolates were probably too sweet as well.

Miwa gave him a cold look. Kai was reminded Miwa had actually known him a bit longer then today, and might perhaps not be the best target to sell bullshit to. "You do know throwing them away is kinda rude, right?"

"You want them instead?" He raised the bag toward Miwa.

"Giving them to other people also isn't very nice." Miwa gave him a nasty smile, and Kai had the feeling he might be pissing him off. It was a rare occurance, so he decided not to push it. Annoyed, he threw them into him bag before putting on his shoes. He figured that he could throw them away whenever he came home.

It appeased Miwa however, and he returned to his bubbly self as they walked to the Card Capital.

It was very cold and misty outside, with the streets covered in a layer of snow. The mist was so thick that it seemed as if the world only existed within a radius of ten meters or so. Kai could see water droplets form on his hair and worried he might get a cold this way.

He'd hoped that after the incident at school, he wouldn't have to deal with Valentine's day anymore. However, when they entered the Card Capital, they were greeted by the sight of pink and red decorations.

Someone had taken the time to put red table cloths patterned with white hearts on every table."Welcome," The manager said. Next to him was a large bowl filled with cupcakes. "Would you like a cupcake?" he offered.

The cupcakes were decorated with hearts, some with marzipan and others with pink and white icing. Both looked too sweet as well, so Kai shook his head. Next to him, Miwa took one."So the Card Capital is also celebrating Valentine's?" Miwa asked.

The Manager nodded, "We decided we wouldn't want to spoil the mood of those who share this day with their special someone." Misaki was rolling her eyes from behind the counter, indicating she wasn't part of this 'we'. Kai greeted her, and he went to look for a spot to sit down.

As he sat down at one of the tables(throwing his bag and jacket onto another chair), Kai briefly wondered why the manager had decided to put effort into this anyway. Most of the customers were, well, frankly, geeks with no love-life to speak of. In fact, the mere presence of girls was unusual of a game shop, let alone one that specialised in trading card games. Miwa joined him at the table as he came to the conclusion not to think too hard about it.

He heard the Manager welcome someone again. Turning his head to look, he saw Aichi and his younger sister enter, snow sticking to their jackets. They were soon greeted by Kamui. Consequently, Kamui turned into a gibbering mess while attempting to ask Aichi's sister about her day, probably in fear of learning she'd gotten someone chocolate. He barely got past her name however, and the girl was regarding him as if he were mad.

Aichi caught his eye, and smiled for a moment before turning his attention to the cupcakes the manager was offering.

A quiet hour went by, with the whispers of cardgames being played being the only noise in the shop, until the shop door opened up again. This time the sound was accompanied by a loud high pitched voice: "Kamui!"  
>A blond blur flashed through the shop, tackeling Kamui against a wall. It was the girl from team Handsome. "Please be my Valentine, Kamui!" she said, shoving a box under his nose. Kamui seemed to be out cold though.<p>

"Nagisa, give him some space," a voice called out from behind. Gouki had entered the Card Capital as well.

"But I want to give him his Valentine's gift!" Nagisa said, she shook Kamui's shoulders, "C'mon Kamui, this isn't funny."

Gouki tried to explain to her that knocking someone out might affect their ability to receive gifts properly. It didn't quite get through to the blond girl, but then her attention was caught by Aichi's sister, who challenged her to a fight. Things quieted down a bit afterward, until Kamui woke up again. He saw the cardgame taking place between the two girls, and then some stupid proclaimation was made about cardgames and true love and whatever. Then the blond girl drew two critical triggers, winning the battle. Said stupid proclaimation was repeated to which Kamui responded by taking out his deck. The battle that followed was nearly unwatchable with all the yelling about love, and honestly the whole thing was kinda stupid.

"They're quite energetic, aren't they?" said Miwa, who stopped paying attention to his magazine. Kai rubbed his temples. Suddenly Miwa spoke again: "So, hey, if losing a cardgame to someone means you have to be their boyfriend, isn't Morikawa like everyone's bi-" He cut off as Kai glared at him. Kai then heard something shift behind him so he turned around. It was Aichi.

Aichi fidgetted a bit before speaking, "Uhm, I was thinking, maybe you would like to fight me again? We haven't played against each other in a while." It was true, it had been a few months. Behind him, Miwa was sniggering.

"I'm sorry, I'm not really in the mood today," he replied. When he saw Aichi's suprised look, he added: "It's just the weather, don't worry." It was a poor excuse, but Miwa's comment was stuck in his mind. And he didn't want to feel like he was being sexually aggresive toward Aichi of all people.

"If you're not feeling well, maybe you should go home?" said Aichi. He looked worried.

"Maybe," said Kai. He didn't want to go home though. Aside from it being lonely and tiny, his appartement was probably freezing right now because the heating had broken down. He probably should head out soon anyway, he still needed to get food.

"I'll play you," said Miwa behind him. He got out his deck.

Aichi smiled. "Great," he said.

Kai removed his bag and jacket from the chair next to him so Aichi could sit down. The fight was an okay one. Miwa had some luck with drawing triggers early on, but eventually Aichi's combos brought him down. It was over fairly quickly, but it had been better entertainment then the fight between Kamui and Nagisa. In fact, that fight was still on it's fourth turn as every other move they had an argument about something or the other.

Miwa seemed interested in it though, "I'm going to see how they are doing," he said while putting away his deck.

Aichi next to him was still gathering his cards. "I should probably go," Kai said.

Aichi looked at him. "Right, I hope you get better soon." he said.

Kai nodded, and he took his bag of the table. But something dropped out of it. It were the Valentine's chocolates.

"Ah, did you receive those today?" said Aichi, he was looking at the chocolates. Kai nodded.

"You can have them if you want," he said offering them.

Aichi gave him a wide-eyed look, "Oh no, I couldn't, they were given to you after all!"

Kai let out a sigh. He was really going to have to throw these away at home.

"Don't you like chocolate?" said Aichi, he was looking at Kai curiously.

"I do, but I prefer the really dark chocolate," he paused for a bit, but then continued, "like the kind that comes in big chunks." He usually wasn't this forthcoming, but Aichi had a way of making him loosen up.

"Really? I don't think I've seen that kind of chocolate before."

"There's a baker around here who sells it," said Kai, "I could show you."

"Now?"

"Sure."

Aichi was quiet for a bit, he looked like he was thinking. Eventually he spoke: "Uhm, alright, I'll get my coat."

A few minutes later they were walking to the bakery. It had was still snowing, and the wind felt like a thousand needles hitting one's skin.

Eventually they got to the bakery. It was a tiny shop, with the door and the the window stills being painted a light yellow. It looked very cozy with the snow bunched up in the corners of the door and the windows. Kai pressed against the door to open it. Inside there were Valentine's decorations all over the place. Little hearts hanging from the ceiling, pink napkins, a special offer on heart-shaped confectionary. To the side there were a few chairs for people to sit while they ate their purchase. It was pretty quiet though, probably due to the weather.

Kai bought two ounce of the gourmet chocolate and handed Aichi a piece of it.

Aichi took the piece and bit into it. A frown flashed over his face, but quickly his face became neutral. "It's okay," he said after a while.

Kai felt annoyed with himself. Of course Aichi wouldn't like it. He went back to the counter and purchased two chocolate croissants. He pushed one into Aichi's hands. "These should be less bitter," he said, and he sat down onto one of the chairs.

The chocolate croissant was of good quality. The molten chocolat in it was sweeter then the gourmet chocolate, but it tasted good with the puff pastry. The top had been coated with a nice layer of egg-yellow, giving the whole bun a glossy surface.  
>He'd nearly eaten all of it, when he noticed Aichi hadn't touched his.<p>

In fact, next to him, Aichi had pretty much tensed up. Moreso then he usually did. He hadn't started his bun yet, actually, he was staring intently at it, frowning and in deep thought. Kai wondered why, had he been scared off by the bitter chocolate? Chocolate. Valentine's Day. Shit.  
>"You know, I gave you that because your a friend," Kai eventually said. "Not because I like to see it going to waste," he added quickly.<p>

Aichi's head snapped up. "Oh, sorry, I was lost in thought." He took a bite. "Ah, this is good," he said. Kai saw him relax.

"I figured you might like it," Kai said.

"Oh, you figured out my tastes quickly then." He could see a glint of realisation in Aichi's eyes. "That's right, you're good at cooking, aren't you?"

"I suposse." He continued, "I like good food, so I need to know how to cook."

"Ah, well, I guess. I mean. I like good cooking too, but my mom usually does all the cooking. I suposse it's different in your household."

"I live alone, so probably," Kai said, he then added: "I need to go." He didn't want to discuss this further with Aichi.

"Oh yeah," Aichi replied, "I hope they haven't destroyed the cardshop while we were gone..."

As they headed out the door Aichi spoke up again: "Hey, Kai, thanks. For the chocolate, it was really nice." He smiled at him. It was a genuine smile, not a polite one like he usually wore. It looked good on him.

Kai felt his ears heat up and a light headedness dawn on him, and instinctively he knew he shouldn't feel that way.

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><p>So yeah, I originally made this for Valentine's day, but it got kinda outta hand.<p>

I really need a beta for this, like, someone who can tell me if I've got run-on sentences or something, because I'm kinda feeling anxious about it, and it don't have a beta for vanguard related fic.


	2. Taffy

**A/N:** Second chapter. Only two to go. For future reference, this was written before ep 57, future chapters will probably be written before ep 58. So if you're wondering why there's no mention of Ren turning into a pink flying elephant or whatever, that's because it hasn't aired yet, and I'm unfortunatly not in possesion of a) the official script or b) psygic powers. I'll trying to keep references as general as possible.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the rights to Cardfight! Vanguard or any of it's associated materials. This is a fanproduct for fans.

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><p>Taffy<p>

The oil was hot enough, so he threw in the chicken pieces. He stirred the chicken, but his mind was elsewhere. What had happened this afternoon had happened before. And always with Aichi. While it hadn't taken long to identify the feeling, he wasn't very happy about it.

He just rather had it wasn't Aichi. Not because Aichi was a guy. No, he would've been fine if it were Miwa or Tetsu, or even that Morikawa guy. It wasn't that he disliked Aichi either, in fact, he was really fond of him.

But perhaps that was the problem, he thought as he cleaned the leek. He cut off the outer layer of the leek and washed out the remaining dirt.

Aichi was prone to pleasing. It had become less as his confidence grew, but Kai had the ability to bring the worst out of Aichi. If Aichi would be confronted with such strong feelings, which he might not return, Kai was afraid he'd try and change himself to become someone that would return those feelings. Kai liked Aichi the way he was, so he didn't want to inspire such a change. Especially since Aichi's initial reaction to the chocolate croissants this afternoon.

He felt nauseated.

He cleaned up the food and went to bed without dinner.

The next day, he went with Miwa to the Card Capital again. He played a few games against Miwa, opened a booster pack(no interesting cards were found), and eventually resigned to nicking Miwa's magazine.

An hour later, as per standard, Kamui and his hanger-ons arrived. Kamui seemed less boisterous then usual, and Kai could almost guess how the game of yesterday had ended. A few minutes later Misaki came in, and Miwa got up to buy something for the next two hours or so. Kai observed them for a bit before returning to the magazine.

Thirty minutes after Misaki had arrived, the Morikawa guy came in with What's-his-face and Aichi. Aichi looked around the shop till he found Kai, he then smiled as a greeting. Kai felt his ears heat up again. He only held up his hand in response, before quickly looking back at the magazine.

He didn't get any reading done though. His ears kept on picking up on Aichi's voice whenever he spoke and Kai found it impossible to concentrate.

He had the urge to join them, but he didn't. Kai was well aware he really couldn't care less about what they were doing and didn't wish to embarrass himself pretending he did. Then he heard Aichi laugh and a irrational feeling of resentfulness coursed through his body. He recomposed himself quickly and decided this was getting ridiculous.

Annoyed, he got his stuff and left the card shop.

The next day after school he directly walked home. When Miwa noticed this, he spoke up: "Ah, you're not going today?"  
>"No," replied Kai, and he walked away.<br>As this repeated over the next few days, Miwa became more and more restless.

"Again?" he asked on the fourth day, "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Kai said.

"Then why are you going home all the time? What do you even do there?"

"Study."

"Study?" Miwa gave him an incredulous look. "For what? It's February."

"I'm just behind on stuff," said Kai.

Suddenly Miwa got close, very close. So close that their foreheads touched. So close he could see how the irises of Miwa's eyes were structured as they looked at their touching foreheads. It then hit him what Miwa was trying to do.

"Are you checking my temperature?" He asked.

"Yep."

"Why?"

"Because you're acting weird." Miwa backed off a bit. "You don't seem to have a fever." He frowned. "It's not a depression is it? Have you been eating proper?"

Kai glared at him. He then turned around and started walking home.

"Hey, wait." Miwa started walking next to him. "So it's just only because you're behind on stuff, nothing else?"

"Yes."

"All right." Miwa slowed down. "Good luck with your studying then," he said. He turned around and headed in the direction of the Card Capital.

The week after that, Kai nearly bored himself to death. He was doing fine with his homework, in fact, he was ahead. He missed the Card Capital, with it's non-broken heating. He missed having people around him and he missed the rest of Q4. But most of all, he missed playing Vanguard.

He considered going to a different card shop, but then he remembered that since the nationals the members of Q4 gained some fame and he didn't feel like attracting attention. At the least, not before he started playing.

Going to the underground spot wasn't an option either. Miwa had cottoned on by now that Kai only went there when he was stressed out over something. So if he went there, he would undoubtedly end up with Miwa worrying about him in the near future, and he didn't want that. There was no need for anyone to get worried over a stupid issue like this anyway.

He didn't own a TV and his internet connection was shoddy at best. So he spend most of his time doing the only other thing he liked doing: Cooking. He spend his time preparing dishes that he usually didn't have time to prepare. Stews, Indian curries, sushi, he even made dumplings yesterday.

Today he was making taffy. He one made it as a kid, and he'd remembered it being fun, so he decided to make it.

He took the ball of molten sugar and kneaded it between his fingers. Pull, twist, fold. Pull, twist, fold. It was laborious work, but it had something cathartic and Kai felt himself relax.

He'd been thinking about Aichi, more-so then usual. It was probably part of the package. He didn't know what to do about this, maybe it would just solve itself.

A few days later, as he walked through the park, he saw someone near the pond. It was Aichi. He was kneeling over, his face hovering over the frozen pond. He was checking the ice with his bare fingers.

Kai got closer. "I'm not going to help you out if you fall in," he said.

Aichi looked up. "Kai!" he said, he smiled a warm smile before continuing, "How are you?"

Kai felt his ears heat up again, this was getting annoying. "I'm doing fine," he said, avoiding Aichi's gaze.

"That's great!" Suddenly Aichi's expression sobered. He averted his eyes and spoke in a softer tone: "I haven't seen you at the card shop for a while now."

The change of tone was unnerving. "I've been busy studying," he replied.

Aichi's face snapped back: "Studying?" He looked at the ground. "I thought you were angry at us for that stupid joke, I mean, you left right after and you seemed pretty angry. Sorry about that by the way." He spoke in a rush, as if he'd been bottling it up.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kai said. In truth, he hadn't at all paid any attention to the conversation that day. He hadn't realised he had looked so angry. He felt a bit guilty about it.

"Oh well, it doesn't matter anyhow," said Aichi, he seemed a lot more happy, "So, you're coming back soon?"

"Yes." He had said it before he could stop him self. "I still need to do some things, that's all."

"Great." Another smile. There was an uncomfortable silence. They both stared at the frozen pond for a bit until Aichi spoke again: "Uhm, I should probably go, it's getting dark."

"That's probably a good idea," Kai replied, he kept looking at the pond.

"Right, see you soon then." He heard Aichi shift and walk away.

He looked at Aichi's retreating back. "Seeya," he said. Aichi turned to look at him and smiled, before turning back.

Kai watched Aichi leave the park, he smiled. He turned around and then he realised that he had accomplished nothing the past few weeks and Aichi was still off-limits.

He felt nauseated again.


	3. Vanilla

**A/N:**Had some schoolwork to do, so here's the late third chapter :s

**Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Cardfight! Vanguard or any of it's associated materials. This is a fanproduct for fans.**

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><p>Vanilla<p>

It had been a few weeks since he had spoken with Aichi in the park. He had started going to the Card Capital again since then. He was happy to be there, as he had really missed it.

However, he still felt miserable. Aichi was there everyday, and by now, as his body had more or less caught up with his brain, he went straight to nauseated any time he saw him.

Miwa had noticed his dour mood and tried to cheer him up. But Kai didn't typically share his trouble with Miwa, and Miwa had never been great at cheering him up. Kai appreciated it though and tried to show it, but after the fifth crooked smile Miwa spoke up: "I'm not helping am I?"

Kai shook his head.

Miwa gave him a sad smile and kind of gave up afterwards, settling for giving him a understanding shoulder pat once in a while.

Miwa had actually been a bit more cheerful the past few weeks, and Kai more or less tried to ignore why.

Two weeks into March, during an assignment for maths, Miwa began bugging him. "Don't forget the day after tomorrow," he said to Kai.

"Why?"

"White Day, duh."

Kai frowned at Miwa. "Why is this important?"

"Well, you received chocolates, right? So you should return the favour," said Miwa, "It's Haruka from 3b by the way."

"I don't even know her, why should I even bother? And you're on first-name basis with her, really?"

"Well, she's pretty and nice, and you could get to know her?" Miwa searched his face. "At the least let her down gently."

Kai just stayed silent. He returned to the shape he had to calculate the surface of and ignored Miwa for the rest of the day.

On White Day he searched his fridge for the taffy he'd made. As fun it was to make, it ended up too sweet for his tastes. He cut up the taffy into blocks and wrapped them in aluminium foil. He then put them in an old little box he had lying around, and threw it into his bag.

Haruka turned out to be a nice girl. He supposed she was cute, but really he couldn't really care less about people's appearances. Kai told her he wasn't interested, gave her the taffy and thanked her.

"I figured as much," she said. She sighted and then smiled at him. It was a nice smile, but he'd seen better. Fiddling with the box she turned around and walked back to her friends.

Briefly it ran through Kai's head that he just missed a chance on getting some relief from his Aichi-induced depression. He then decided it wouldn't have been fair to the girl anyhow.

After school they went to the Card Capital. The card shop thankfully didn't celebrate white day, though Kai later heard from Misaki the manager had given it serious consideration.

Currently he was playing against Kamui, half paying attention, half observing Miwa loitering around the counter. Misaki was glaring at him. Eventually Miwa took out something from his pocket and handed it to her. She took it and stared at it sceptically, while Miwa started talking animatedly.

"Hey!"

Kai looked at the source of the sound. It was Kamui.

"Are you going to draw that trigger today?" Kamui was looking at him apprehensively.

Kai drew a card. "No trigger," he said as he threw it onto the damage pool.

Kamui scrunched his nose for a moment, then he looked Kai straight in the eye. "What's up?" he said, regarding Kai as if he were a con-artist.

Kai bit his lip, wondering if he should bother. He figured it was probably all of Q4's problem, and formulated the sentence in his mind. Finally, he spoke: "If two of your friends get together, who do you strangle when they break up?"

Kamui just stared at him. "What the hell?" he said.

Kai pointed at the counter. Kamui looked for a while, before saying: "Huh." He tilted his head a bit and kept on looking. Finally he spoke: "I think you should go for blondie, because it's more likely that Misaki is gonna strangle you rather then you strangling her." He then tilted his head the other way. "But, I have the feeling he's like, a misogynist, so he'd probably like being strangled."

"Masochist."

"Right, whatever. Besides, I think strangling people is illegal, so it's not a good idea anyhow."

Kai looked at the counter. Miwa had stopped talking and was watching Misaki. She was saying something but avoiding his gaze. Miwa visibly relaxed and started talking again.

Next to him Kamui spoke up: "If he does something to her, he'll have to deal with me."

"I'll be sure to tell him," said Kai and he looked back at the game.

Kamui turned back as well, he stared at the cards. "Damnit, I forgot what I was doing."

"Hey guys," said a familiar voice behind them. It was Aichi and immediately Kai felt his saliva become thinner and watery, nausea set in a second later.

Kamui smiled at Aichi. "Hey!" he said.

Aichi frowned. "Kamui, aren't you supposed to be with Nagisa?" he said.

"What?"

"It's White Day, remember?"

Kamui swore, like a sailor, or like an elementary school kid who'd been told by his mother not to say such dirty words, either way it was very colourful.

"I'm sorry, I've got to go," he said as he picked up all his cards and basically ran out of the shop.

Aichi stared at the direction Kamui had gone in before looking back at Kai.

"Uhm, Kai?"

Kai was collecting his cards as he looked up. He snarled. Now what?

Aichi shifted a bit and gave a tense impression. He then spoke: "I uhm, I wanted to give you this." He pressed a satchel into Kai's hands while he looked away. It smelled strongly of vanilla and Kai suspected it contained biscuits.

Aichi continued: "I just wanted to thank you for the- for what you gave me a month ago. And because it's White Day, and I suppose I like you- I mean, you mean a lot to me..." Was he trying to say what Kai thought he said?

"So you got this idea from Valentine's day?" Kai asked a bit more gruffly then he intended. He shouldn't get his hopes up.

"Yeah," said Aichi, "I guess I would've never thought of it myself, but you're pretty much the only guy, well, the only person really, who I-"

"I'm not interested." It was tempting, but not a good idea. Aichi was clearly pushing himself to do this. It was just some stupid idea he'd gotten into his head.

"Ah, okay. I see." Aichi took a few deep breaths. "Right, forget about it then." He faced away from Kai and quietly went to pick up his stuff. He then hurried out of the shop.

"Why was he so in a hurry?" asked Miwa as he approached the table. Kai shrugged.

The day afterwards, Aichi showed up as usual, but he avoided looking at Kai or even greeting him. The day after that, he only showed up for a hour or so, saying he had some stuff to attend to. This continued, with each visit decreasing in length.

By the end of the week Aichi had stopped coming all together.


	4. Soufflé

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Cardfight! Vnaguard or any of it's associated materials, this is a fan product for fans.

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><p>Soufflé<p>

"What did you do?"

Misaki was standing in front of him with an cool look.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," said Kai.

"Aichi has stopped coming. Now I know he spoke to you on White Day, and then ran out, so the logical conclusion is that you must've said something to him, and now he's upset."

"He showed up afterwards," Kai replied.

"I have thought about that, but then I figured it's much more likely to be your fault anyhow."

Kai groaned.

"What?" said Misaki, "There was the creepiness at the finals, there was the moping of a few weeks ago..." Misaki paused to think for a bit and then continued: "Oh, and Christmas."

"What happened during Christmas wasn't even my fault," he said.

Misaki just glared at him for a moment. Eventually she spoke again: "What did you do?"

Kai took a deep breath. "On Valentine's Day, I took Aichi out to a bakery and bought him some of the chocolate croissants they sell there." He paused to let the information sink in, and then continued: "I told Aichi it was a token of friendship, but on White Day he gave me biscuits in return."

"And you rejected him," said Misaki, "That's not all, is it? I mean, Miwa said you were in a shitty mood lately."

Kai really didn't feel like telling her the rest, so he just glared at her.

Misaki just glared back.

"I don't need to take this," Kai said and he tried to get his stuff together to leave, but Misaki grabbed his arm.

"You're not leaving until you tell me what's going on," she said, her voice eerily calm.

Kai slapped her hands away, and attempted to leave, but Misaki grabbed his jacket and nabbed his deck. She then let go of him and rushed to the back room of the store.

Kai followed her. When he found her she was sitting on top of a stepladder.

"Give me my cards back," he growled as he advanced on her.

"Oh I would, but I don't have them on me," she said. "You can go look for them if you want," and she gestured to the storage shelves around them.

All around them, the shelves were staked with trading card merchandise. Kai looked around, but he couldn't see his deck.

"Oh, I should warn you, I don't think Shin will appreciate it if you hang around here all day," said Misaki.

Kai gave the room a last good look before giving up.

"I like Aichi, a lot," he said.

Misaki frowned, as if she were trying to comprehend it. "Okay," she slowly said.

"And I'm afraid that if Aichi would know that he'd try to pretend he'd like me back. Aichi said he got the idea for the cookies from Valentine's Day, so I rejected him."

"I see." Misaki frowned for a moment, and then spoke up: "That's not very nice is it? You're kind of cutting him off."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Aichi maybe didn't quite think of the possibility of being with you like that. But then on Valentine's Day he gets that idea and it fits with what he feels for you. But you reject him immediately none the less." Misaki paused to examine her nails. "And I don't get why if Aichi is pushing himself into liking you, you wouldn't be able to stop the relationship as you're in it. I mean, can't you just experiment?"

Kai just stayed quiet. She had a point.

"And normally I don't want to butt in, but I worry about you guys," she said as she got off the stepladder. She knelt down near one of the shelves and reached under it. A moment later she retrieved Kai's deck from underneath the shelve.

She dusted it off with her sleeve and handed it to him. "Please go talk to him," she said, "I want to see him show up again."

Kai took his deck and put it away in his jacket. "I'll try to see what I can do."

Misaki nodded, and walked to the door of the front of the store. Suddenly she turned and spoke: "You do know where he lives right?"

After receiving directions from Misaki, Kai left the card shop for Aichi's house. He was currently standing in front of it. It was a small middle class suburban house. He used to live in one just like these when his parents were still alive. Kai took a deep breath and rang the doorbell.

The door was opened by Aichi. "Kai," he said, surprised, "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see how you were doing."

"How I was doing..." Aichi just stared at him confusedly.

Suddenly, the voice of an adult woman rang out from behind him: "Aichi, who's there?"

"Just a friend Mom," said Aichi.

"Well then, invite him in," Aichi's mother said.

Aichi looked back at Kai. "Would you like to come in?" he asked. Kai nodded, and Aichi opened the door further.

As he took off he shoes, he saw a woman pass by. She strongly resembled Aichi. "I'm sorry, I'll be with you guys in a moment," she said.

"I actually wanted to speak to you alone," Kai told Aichi.

Aichi tensed up a bit. "Oh, right," he said. "Actually Mom, we'll be in my room."

"Al right," she yelled from a room on the other side of the house.

Aichi motioned for Kai to follow him and they went up the stairs. Moments later they entered Aichi's room. Kai looked around. It was a small clean room, but sparsely decorated. There was a bed, a bookcase with only two selves filled and a cabinet in the corner. Kai noticed there was more or less no personal touch to be found except for the desk in near the window. Vanguard cards were strewn across the desktop, and there was a white board on the wall with flyers and magazine cuttings of Q4's victory during the finals.

Aichi shifted past him and sat on the bed. "So what did you want to talk about?"

Kai leaned against the wall, and thought for a moment. "How are you doing?" he said.

"Uhm, well, I just haven't been feeling too well lately," said Aichi, "I'll be coming by the Card Capital when I get better." He was avoiding Kai's gaze.

"So our last conversation has nothing to do with it?" said Kai.

Aichi was quite for a moment. "It does," he said eventually, "But I'll be fine." He pulled up his legs and hugged his knees. "I understand you don't like me that way, but I just need some time to-" He cut off and buried his face into his knees. "I just need to some time," he said, his voice high pitched and quivering.

Kai shifted away from his spot and moved to sit next to Aichi on the bed. From this angle he could clearly see Aichi was crying, and it only hit him then how much he'd been assuming. He put a hand onto Aichi's shoulder. "I wasn't really honest with you last time," he said, "I do like you that way."

"You don't have to say that to make me feel better," came the surprisingly cold response. He could see Aichi glaring from the corner of his eye.

"I thought you were saying stuff to make me feel better," said Kai, "Besides, why would I lie to you about that?"

Aichi tilted up his head and looked at Kai with red puffed up cheeks. "You mean that?"

Kai just put an arm around Aichi and leaned in to kiss him. He felt his ears heat up and Kai had never been so happy to feel that feeling.

Aichi smiled shyly at him.

A few days later, Kai was looking at his microwave oven, trying to see if the dish he was making was baking properly. It was a relatively difficult dish, prone to collapsing at the slightest mistake.

Finally, the oven made a beeping noise. Kai opened the door, removed the cups and put them on platters. He then headed over to the other side of the room.

There Aichi was staring out of the window. He'd been eagerly looking around Kai's small apartment beforehand, but as there was little to see he eventually got distracted by the outside world.

Kai pushed one of the platters into Aichi's hands.

"Oh, what is this?" Aichi said.

"Chocolate souffl ," said Kai, "Don't worry, I used milk chocolate to make it. You should be careful, it's hot."

Aichi took a spoonful of the souffl and pushed it into his mouth. "Oh, this is really good," he said after a while, "Thanks." He quickly took another bite.

Kai smiled as he started on his own souffl . They were quiet for a while as they ate. Outside Kai could see the flowerbeds outside the apartment complex standing in full bloom with daffodils. It was a nice warm day, with small clouds scattered across the sky.

Next to him Aichi leaned in to rest his head against Kai's shoulder. Kai put his plate away and reached out to cuddle Aichi. He buried his face into Aichi's neck and took in his scent. Aichi was laughing softly and pecked his cheek. Kai felt his ears heat up again.

They stood like that for a moment till Aichi finally spoke:

"Did you know your ears get red from time to time?"

The end.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Alright, my first finished chaptered fic. I hope you could deal with my horrible prose. I think, for now, I'll return to drawing comics, though I don't know yet how to share them proper with the rest of the world. Anyway, hope you liked it :)


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